A new look on life
by mbrselley
Summary: cross dressing Harry. I don't own Harry Potter. Please no flames
1. Chapter 1

It all started on an odd afternoon with Luna Lovegood braiding the hair of one Harry Potter. Now let me be clear, Luna braiding Harry's hair is not what was odd. Harry had been growing his hair out since he entered Hogwarts and by now it reached his waist. Luna had been braiding his hair since the beginning of her second year when it still only barely reached beyond his shoulders. There had been many lonely afternoons that consisted of Harry wandering the halls of the school while his friends enjoyed Hogsmeade. Luna being the free spirit she is had no qualms going up telling Harry that his long hair was attracting nargles looking for a nest and offering to braid it for him. A friendship had started there that carried through that year and into the next.

So, no, it was not odd to see Luna sitting behind Harry braiding his wavy locks into intricate designs. It was in fact quite common as Harry had discovered he quite liked his hair braided. What was odd about this particular scene was the presence of one Amanda Schmidt, Hufflepuff 3rd year. Luna and Amanda had met the year before when the Hufflepuff saved the Luna from some of her Ravenclaw tormenters. They began sitting together in classes and developed a strong friendship and after reuniting on the hogwarts express had begun dating. This was the first time Luna had introduced her only two friends. After sitting and watching Luna and Harry for a couple minutes she had asked the fateful question:

"Have you ever given him a full make over?"

That was how Harry ended up in the middle of Ravenclaw common room with perfect make up and a surprisingly well-fitting black dress paired with a pair of conservative flats (they tried to convince him to try a pair of pumps but he refused on the premise of not wanting to end up on his face) both on loan from Luna.

"I still think the green dress would look nice on him;" Amanda commented thoughtfully.

"It's Tuesday, wearing green on Tuesdays attract barngles," Luna replied calmly as she surveyed their work. Harry shifted as he took in his current situation. When Amanda made the suggestion, he had been hesitant at first until Luna turned to him with those big eager eyes and then he had been lost. He had thought it would awkward and embarrassing wearing girls clothes out where everyone in the common room could see, but the dress and flats were surprisingly comfortable, and Harry surprised himself by liking the borrowed clothing. Only for Luna would he have put these clothes on, yet now he found himself wishing he could dress like this more often.

Meanwhile the girls were admiring their work when Amanda Realized Harry still hadn't seen himself.

"OH! Harry don't you want to see how you look?" Amanda exclaimed transfiguring a nearby cushion into a standing mirror. Harry hesitantly stepped forward expecting to find he looked rather silly.

The person that stared back at him was graceful and elegant. Harry had always been small, but the cut of the dress transformed him into dainty and slender. His eyes had always been a stunning green but now the black eyeliner made them seem larger and brighter while the natural eyeshadows created and allusion of depth that he had never seen on himself before and his lips which were always plush had become pouty with a sumptuous red color. His cheekbones had been highlighted and gave his face a regal appearance. All in all, he had transformed into a beautiful creature.

Harry could only stare, stunned, at his own reflection. For perhaps the first time he liked how he looked.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"So, what do you think?" Harry stared shocked at his reflection while the girls waited for his reaction. Finally, he swallowed and answered.

"I lo…. I mean isn't it a little girly?" Harry blushed at the slip and finally turned away from the mirror to look at the girls.

"There's nothing wrong with liking it. Most boys are just too afraid to," Luna said with her dreamy smile. Amanda grinned and nodded.

"Luna's right Harry. You look good why not show it off?"

"I don't know. Isn't it kind of freakish for a boy to like girl's clothes? Isn't it unnatural?" Harry mumbled with downcast eyes.

"The only thing unnatural is letting those wigglywumps make you doubt yourself. Lots of people let them infest their eyes so all they see is what the wigglywumps decide to show them. It's really not smart to let them infest you. You just have to tell them to go away. They don't like fights you know, not when there's so many willing hosts," Luna explained with a frown as she took off Harry's glasses and looked through them herself.

"What Luna means is, it's silly to let other people tell you what to do and think. Do you think Luna and I freakish for wearing pants and ties? Or unnatural for dating?"

"NO! Of course I don't think you're freakish or unnatural!" Harry was quick to say. He paused and thought about what Luna and Amanda said and then looked back at the mirror. They had a point, girls could wear boy's clothes, and no one bats an eye. Were there really any reasons boys can't wear girl's clothes? He had grown up listening to Uncle Vernon rant about those crossdressing fags, and how they all deserved to burn in hell, but he had learned early on the way the Dursleys saw the world wasn't necessarily how it was. They did after all think Dudley was and innocent angel…

Harry sighed.

"Fine, I guess I kind of like it," Harry confessed, "but I'm still not comfortable letting other people see me like this. At least not yet."

"That's understandable, the wigglywumps will take a while to leave now that you've told them to go away. When they're all gone we can teach all about how to do your make up and I can make you a pair of Dirigible plum earrings to keep the wigglywumps away!" Luna said in a matter of fact tone that left no room for argument.

"Luna's right as long as you've admitted it to yourself, we won't rush you to be ready for anything else, but when you are ready, we'll be here to teach you everything we know about fashion" Amanda smiled and gave her girlfriend a little kiss. Harry politely looked away with a smile maybe Amanda really would be a good match for Luna. Hopefully their romance and his fashion epiphany would be the most exciting things he would have to worry about this year.

"HARRY POTTER," The great hall went silent as Dumbledore read the name off the scrap of parchment in his hand. Harry groaned in disbelief and allowed his head to thump onto the table. With that a quite hum like that of angry bees began to spread across the great hall. Harry looked up to Ron and Hermione and found them gaping at him with the rest of the Gryffindor table.

"I swear I didn't put my name in!" Harry cried desperate for them to believe him, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Harry Potter," Dumbledore called again "Please come to the front of the hall and join the other competitors." Harry simply sat there feeling numb until Hermione gave him a shove to the shoulder.

"Go!" She whispered urgently. On shaky legs Harry stood and faced the hall.

"I didn't put my name in the cup!" He said again loud enough for all to hear before turning and approaching Dumbledore.

Harry was angry. For the past three years he had done everything he could to keep Ron and Hermione happy to make sure they all stayed friends He dodged Ron's jealousy on a regular basis and made sure he didn't get better grades than Hermione. He let Ron drag his grades down with his procrastination and let Hermione nag and lecture him about it as though he were an errant child. He had done everything he could to make them happy, and now when he needed their support, they didn't believe him. No one did. The entire school hated him for something he didn't even do.

"Oh, there you are, the wumpfles told me you'd be here," Harry looked up to the entrance of the owlery as Luna entered.

"Here to ask how I tricked the goblet?" harry asked bitterly as Luna sat beside him.

"Oh, no, I already know you didn't enter silly. Remember you said so when Dumbledore called you," Luna said as though it were obvious.

"You believe me?" Harry asked astonished.

"Why wouldn't I? You've never lied to me before." Harry was floored

"You really do believe me, don't you?" Harry was stunned

"Of course, we do," Harry jumped and turned at the new voice and spotted Amanda entering the room, "We're friends, aren't we?"

Harry could only gape at them before answering.

"I guess, but Ron and Hermione are my friends too and they don't believe me."

"Well then shame on them, that's not the way a friend should act. I don't want to talk bad about your friends but from what I've seen of you three together you're mostly just letting them push you around." Amanda huffed.

"It's not that bad, Hermione is just passionate about her beliefs and I don't want to make Ron jealous." Harry defended while feeling a slight uncertainty creeping in.

"I'm passionate about the creatures daddy and I look for, but I'm not offended that you're not sure about them. And why should Ron be jealous? He has a large family that all love him no matter how bad he messes up. He has clothes to wear that mostly fit him, and he's never gone hungry a day in his life. If anything you should be jealous of him but you're still a good friend to him." Luna pointed out as her and her girlfriend sat down across from Harry.

"I-I don't know what you mean why should I be jealous of Ron?" Harry stuttered, uncomfortable with how accurately Luna seemed to be hinting that his relatives were less than caring.

"I'm a seer, but even if I wasn't I an see the overly large threadbare clothes you wear, I can see how small you are, I can see the bruises you try to hide, but most importantly I can see how desperate you are for someone to care about you. Harry, I care about you, neither of us has to be alone anymore. You deserve better," Luna's eyes pierced him laying him bare and feeling vulnerable to the world around him. No one had ever told him they cared, no one had ever bothered to see the signs of abuse and neglect he carried with him everywhere, and no one had ever told him he deserved better. Harry felt a knot in his throat as tears threatened to break free.

"I care about you too, Harry. I know we haven't known each other very long but I can see how big of a heart you have in the way you treat everyone else. But there's a line between being kind and allowing yourself to be walked on. You need to be who you are, and if someone else doesn't like it that's their problem. No one else gets to tell you how you should feel or act." Amanda reached forward and squeezed his shoulder in a sign of support, and that was it. Harry could feel the tears running down his face but he couldn't bring himself to care. Luna and Amanda moved closer and held him as he wept. He had spent his whole life trying to make other people happy. He let others tell him who and what he was. And now here were these girls telling him he deserved to be happy too. He deserved to be whoever he wanted to be. They were telling him it was okay to be himself no matter what anyone else said because they'd still be there by his side. And for the first time in his life he could see that they were right. He had spent so much time and energy bending himself into impossible shapes, breaking his back to make those around him happy. He had given up so much of himself because he thought that was the only way anyone would ever care about him. He finally understood that that wasn't right. Ron and Hermione didn't offer even the slightest compromise they just expected him to do what they wanted him to do. Harry finally understood that wasn't right, that wasn't friendship. This right here these two girls he had only recently met they were what true friends were like. They wanted him to be happy and were unhappy themselves that he wasn't. It was time he did what made him happy because fitting the mold others had cast for him was tearing him apart. He was slowly whittling away at himself to fit others expectation and he honestly didn't know how much longer he could go like this before he was just an empty shell.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours the tears slowed and stopped. Shakily Harry wiped his face and looked to the two girls who were still holding him. It was time to do something that made him happy. So, with a shaky breath he looked to the girls and asked,

"Luna, do you still have that green dress?"


End file.
